You are tempted in the same way all other human beings are. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted any more than you can take. But when you are tempted, God will give you a way out so that you can stand up under it.

Some people believe that because God will give you a way out, that it will be an easy thing for you that requires little to no effort. Like being tempted to go dive into that half gallon of ice cream that you know you shouldn't eat because you're on a strict diet and finding that it is so freezer burned that it's too nasty to eat. It's never been that easy for me. Resisting temptation is possible, with God's help, but it's still hard.

Remember, temptation itself is not a sin. It's when you take an action to embrace that temptation that it becomes a sin. I'm not just talking about "doing" something, because you can sin in your mind over and over and over again without physically "doing" a thing. I used to respond to the whole "sin in your mind" argument with "yeah, well I'd much rather someone think about shooting me than actually doing it!" or "I'd be a lot happier if Brian saw some little coed at work that lit his fire and he only thought about picking her up instead of actually doing it". And that response itself was what God used to turn my own argument against me. You see, I actually said to that a friend when I was asked how I deal with the fact that he is surrounded every day at work (at a local University) by beautiful young women, some of whom even have tried to hit on him. My friend didn't believe that he could be surrounded by scantily dressed women all day and not be tempted, even if it was "just" in his mind. The rest of that day I couldn't seem to get that conversation out of my head. I found myself debating myself! "He's human, so what if he looks". "He's not dead ... he's going to look and maybe even imagine ... so what as long as he doesn't touch". But God showed me that if he imagined enough times, it would be a whole lot easier to actually do! That is the key that Satan uses time and time again. Plant a seed in your mind, let you play the scenario over enough times to work through the details and get past the feeling bad about it part, find plenty of bad justifications for your actions and then sit back and watch us fall. As simple as that plan sounds, it works a lot of the time. But we, as Christians, have a counter-plan we can use.

The Purpose Driven Life has a whole chapter devoted to defeating temptation. Rick Warren says that there are four biblical keys that we can use...

1. Refocus your attention on something else (remember the Tom Hanks movie where he thought about the nuns every time he was tempted during his bachelor party?)

2. Reveal your struggle to a godly friend or support group (if you could handle it on your own, you would have already done it. There is strength in numbers.)

3. Resist the devil (The Word of God is our weapon. Remember how Jesus responded when He was tempted in the wilderness?)

4. Realize your vulnerability (Never let Satan convince you that you're too "good" a Christian to be tempted. We're never beyond temptation.)

Not easy - but possible. Just remember, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."